.. _observing-example: Example: Observation Planning ----------------------------- This example outlines a common use case for coordinate transformations: observability curves to assist planning or executing an observing run. This serves to demonstrate typical usage of `~astropy.coordinates.SkyCoord` and the transformation framework. Let's suppose you are planning to visit picturesque `Bear Mountain State Park in New York, USA `_. You're bringing your telescope with you (of course), and someone told you M33 is a great target to observe there. You happen to know you're free at 11:00 pm local time, and you want to know if it will be up. Astropy can answer that. In the example below, we make a `~astropy.coordinates.SkyCoord` to look up the coordinates of M33 online, and then transform to horizontal coordinates (`~astropy.coordinates.AltAz`) using an `astropy.time.Time` object for when we're observing and an `~astropy.coordinates.EarthLocation` object for the park:: >>> import numpy as np >>> from astropy import units as u >>> from astropy.time import Time >>> from astropy.coordinates import SkyCoord, EarthLocation, AltAz >>> m33 = SkyCoord.from_name('M33') # doctest: +REMOTE_DATA >>> bear_mountain = EarthLocation(lat=41.3*u.deg, lon=-74*u.deg, height=390*u.m) >>> utcoffset = -4*u.hour # Eastern Daylight Time >>> time = Time('2012-7-12 23:00:00') - utcoffset >>> m33altaz = m33.transform_to(AltAz(obstime=time,location=bear_mountain)) # doctest: +REMOTE_DATA >>> "M33's Altitude = {0.alt:.2}".format(m33altaz) # doctest: +FLOAT_CMP +REMOTE_DATA "M33's Altitude = 0.13 deg" Oops, so low of an altitude indicates M33 is only just rising, so the trees and mountains will be in the way. You'd better make a plot to see what the night is going to look like. We'll do it by airmass, too, because that's a better measure of telescope observing conditions:: >>> midnight = Time('2012-7-13 00:00:00') - utcoffset >>> delta_midnight = np.linspace(-2, 7, 100)*u.hour >>> m33altazs = m33.transform_to(AltAz(obstime=midnight+delta_midnight, location=bear_mountain)) # doctest: +REMOTE_DATA .. doctest-requires:: matplotlib >>> import matplotlib.pyplot as plt >>> plt.plot(delta_midnight, m33altazs.secz) # doctest: +REMOTE_DATA +IGNORE_OUTPUT >>> plt.xlim(-2, 7) # doctest: +IGNORE_OUTPUT >>> plt.ylim(1, 4) # doctest: +IGNORE_OUTPUT >>> plt.xlabel('Hours from EDT Midnight') # doctest: +IGNORE_OUTPUT >>> plt.ylabel('Airmass [Sec(z)]') # doctest: +IGNORE_OUTPUT .. plot:: import numpy as np import matplotlib.pyplot as plt from astropy import units as u from astropy.time import Time from astropy.coordinates import SkyCoord, EarthLocation, AltAz #supress the warning about vector transforms so as not to clutter the doc build log import warnings warnings.filterwarnings('ignore',module='astropy.coordinates.baseframe') m33 = SkyCoord(ra=23.4621*u.deg, dec=30.6599417*u.deg) # same as SkyCoord.from_name('M33'): use the explicit coordinates to allow building doc plots w/o internet bear_mountain = EarthLocation(lat=41.3*u.deg, lon=-74*u.deg, height=390*u.m) utcoffset = -4*u.hour # Eastern Daylight Time midnight = Time('2012-7-13 00:00:00') - utcoffset delta_midnight = np.linspace(-2, 7, 100)*u.hour m33altazs = m33.transform_to(AltAz(obstime=midnight+delta_midnight, location=bear_mountain)) plt.plot(delta_midnight, m33altazs.secz) plt.xlim(-2, 7) plt.ylim(1, 4) plt.xlabel('Hours from EDT Midnight') plt.ylabel('Airmass [Sec(z)]') Hmm, looks like you may need to stay up pretty late. But maybe you're an early-riser? Then you need to know when the sun is rising, and when it will be twilight. We can get the sun's location with `~astropy.coordinates.get_sun` and then plot the altitude and color-code by azimuth:: >>> from astropy.coordinates import get_sun >>> delta_midnight = np.linspace(-12, 12, 1000)*u.hour >>> times = midnight + delta_midnight >>> altazframe = AltAz(obstime=times, location=bear_mountain) >>> sunaltazs = get_sun(times).transform_to(altazframe) >>> m33altazs = m33.transform_to(altazframe) # doctest: +REMOTE_DATA .. doctest-requires:: matplotlib >>> plt.plot(delta_midnight, sunaltazs.alt, color='y', label='Sun') # doctest: +IGNORE_OUTPUT >>> plt.scatter(delta_midnight, m33altazs.alt, c=m33altazs.az, label='M33', lw=0, s=8) # doctest: +REMOTE_DATA +IGNORE_OUTPUT >>> plt.fill_between(delta_midnight.to('hr').value, 0, 90, sunaltazs.alt < -0*u.deg, color='0.5', zorder=0) # doctest: +IGNORE_OUTPUT >>> plt.fill_between(delta_midnight.to('hr').value, 0, 90, sunaltazs.alt < -18*u.deg, color='k', zorder=0) # doctest: +IGNORE_OUTPUT >>> plt.colorbar().set_label('Azimuth [deg]') # doctest: +REMOTE_DATA +IGNORE_OUTPUT >>> plt.legend(loc='upper left') # doctest: +IGNORE_OUTPUT >>> plt.xlim(-12, 12) # doctest: +IGNORE_OUTPUT >>> plt.xticks(np.arange(13)*2 -12) # doctest: +IGNORE_OUTPUT >>> plt.ylim(0, 90) # doctest: +IGNORE_OUTPUT >>> plt.xlabel('Hours from EDT Midnight') # doctest: +IGNORE_OUTPUT >>> plt.ylabel('Altitude [deg]') # doctest: +IGNORE_OUTPUT .. plot:: import numpy as np import matplotlib.pyplot as plt from astropy import units as u from astropy.time import Time from astropy.coordinates import SkyCoord, EarthLocation, AltAz, get_sun #supress the warning about vector transforms so as not to clutter the doc build log import warnings warnings.filterwarnings('ignore',module='astropy.coordinates.baseframe') m33 = SkyCoord(ra=23.4621*u.deg, dec=30.6599417*u.deg) # same as SkyCoord.from_name('M33'): use the explicit coordinates to allow building doc plots w/o internet bear_mountain = EarthLocation(lat=41.3*u.deg, lon=-74*u.deg, height=390*u.m) utcoffset = -4*u.hour # Eastern Daylight Time midnight = Time('2012-7-13 00:00:00') - utcoffset delta_midnight = np.linspace(-12, 12, 1000)*u.hour times = midnight + delta_midnight altazframe = AltAz(obstime=times, location=bear_mountain) sunaltazs = get_sun(times).transform_to(altazframe) m33altazs = m33.transform_to(altazframe) plt.plot(delta_midnight, sunaltazs.alt, color='y', label='Sun') plt.scatter(delta_midnight, m33altazs.alt, c=m33altazs.az, label='M33', lw=0, s=8) plt.fill_between(delta_midnight.to(u.hr).value, 0, 90, sunaltazs.alt < -0*u.deg, color='0.5', zorder=0) plt.fill_between(delta_midnight.to(u.hr).value, 0, 90, sunaltazs.alt < -18*u.deg, color='k', zorder=0) plt.colorbar().set_label('Azimuth [deg]') plt.legend(loc='upper left') plt.xlim(-12, 12) plt.xticks(np.arange(13)*2 -12) plt.ylim(0, 90) plt.xlabel('Hours from EDT Midnight') plt.ylabel('Altitude [deg]') Now you're fully-equipped with the tools you need to plan your next observing run... Or have a proper vacation. You decide!